B5 1964

Robert Nickle made this paper collage, B5, from what looks like found scraps, bits of old envelopes, and faded documents. It's all about process, really. He's not trying to trick you into thinking these materials are anything other than what they are. Look at the surface, it's got this great layered effect, like archaeology or maybe the walls of some ancient ruin. You can see the texture of the paper, the way the colors have aged, all those greys. It's like a symphony of decay, but in a strangely beautiful way. And see that little triangle of paper with all the text on it? It's like a secret message or a lost fragment of history. Nickle’s collages remind me a bit of Kurt Schwitters, another artist who found beauty in the discarded. They both show us that art can be about embracing the unexpected and finding poetry in the everyday. It’s a conversation between artists, across time, about what art can be. There's no one right way to see it, just layers and layers of possibilities.